Brotherswater, c.1900
Frank Morley Fletcherexpand_more
Color woodcutexpand_more
Gift of Marla J. Kinneyexpand_more 2017.70
Not on Viewexpand_more
These two intrepid hikers are catching their breath in England’s Lake District, which today encompasses 885 square miles. Frank Morley Fletcher grew up just south of this area, in Lancashire, and may have ambled in this very spot. The water below is part of Brotherswater, a small lake originally called Broad Water but renamed in the 1800s after two brothers died there.
Fletcher made use of the vertical “pillar” format found in Japanese prints, a sign of his affinity for Japanese color woodblock printmaking techniques, which he practiced and championed throughout his career. The swaths of flat color are hallmarks of such prints, as are the diagonal lines and our high vantage point. Fletcher painstakingly carved one of the blocks—he liked using cherry—to add detail to Brotherswater but decided to skip the black outlines in the sky, instead letting the shapes speak for themselves. This was a daring departure from Japanese practice and an example of the experimentation Fletcher and his followers went on to do.
Details
- Title
- Brotherswater
- Artist Life
- 1866–1949
- Role
- Artist
- Accession Number
- 2017.70
- Provenance
- (Annex Galleries, Santa Rosa, Calif., until 1990s, sold to private collector); private collector, Santa Barbara, Calif., 1990s–2016, sold to Main; (James Main Fine Art, Santa Barbara, sold to Kinney); Marla J. Kinney, Minneapolis; given to MIA, 2017.
- Curator Approved
This record has been reviewed by our curatorial staff but may be incomplete. These records are frequently revised and enhanced. If you notice a mistake or have additional information about this object, please email collectionsdata@artsmia.org.
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